Type Gallery – Linotype Didot

The Didot family were active as designers for about 100 years in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were printers, publishers, typeface designers, inventors and intellectuals. Around 1800 the Didot family owned the most important print shop and font foundry in France. Pierre Didot, the printer, published a document with the typefaces of his brother, Firmin Didot (1764–1836), the typeface designer.

The strong clear forms of this alphabet display objective, rational characteristics and are representative of the time and philosophy of the Enlightenment. Adrian Frutiger’s Didot® font is a sensitive interpretation of the French Modern Face Didot. Another model for this design is the Henriade, an historical printing of the original Didot from 1818. The font Didot gives text a classic and elegant feel.